Ariant's Dragoon Guide
__TOC__ = Introduction = I'm Ariant, from the Fairy server, and in case you can't read titles, I'm the author of this modest guide. Please don't make changes aside from typos, I'm still editing a lot. I'll update the guide as I progress through levels. = The Dragoon = With their lances in hand and their faithful wyvern by their sides, Dragoons (DRG) surprise their enemies with their extraordinary jumping abilities. Obtaining the Job The quest for this job is The Holy Crest. The quest is very annoying because it is tedious to find the Wyvern Egg and it involves lots of traveling. Aside from that, it's really easy. Requirements *Level 30 *Rank 2 **Note: if you are Bastokan or Windurstian, you must be on mission 2-3 or higher. *A pickaxe *Be able to kill a level 40 NM, or have someone in your party that can do so. **Note: Party members need to have completed this quest or be on this step to enter the BCNM. Quest Walkthrough *Go to Cargo Room A in Port San d'Oria and talk to Ceraulian *Then go to Bostaunieux Oubliette (beneath Chateau d'Oraguille) and talk to Novalmauge. *Go to the Manuscript room in the Cathedral in Northern San d'Oria, It will be on the left as soon as you enter the cathedral. Talk to Morjean (Oiheaurese will appear during the cutscene and ask you to bring back an egg). *Buy a pickaxe and head for the Maze of Shakhrami. In order to locate the Maze of Shakhrami, you need to go to Tahrongi Canyon and follow the map to the Northeast corner until you find the hidden entrance (K-5). Once inside, look for the excavation point at E-7, G-7, I-8, I-10, K-7 or L-8 (on the first floor) and start excavating until you find a Wyvern Egg. *Return to Morjean, and receive a cutscene where Yachemidot asks you to take the Wyvern Egg to Meriphataud Mountains. *On the eastern edge of Drogaroga's Spine at K-8 is a ???. Trade the Wyvern Egg to the ??? for a cutscene. *Return to the Chateau d'Oraguille and talk to Rahal, who is in the Royal Knight's Quarters (on the left as you enter the Chateau). Rahal will then give you the Dragon Curse Remedy (key item). *Travel to the hut at G-10 in Ghelsba Outpost. When ready, open the door and spawn Cyranuce M Cutauleon. *Defeat Cyranuce M Cutauleon to complete the quest. Weapons Weapon Types Dragoon has A+ Polearm, B- Staff, C- Sword, and E Club/Dagger skills. Honestly, you really shouldn't use any weapon type besides Polearm, it's Dragoon's native weapon, and if you so much as think about using Staff for your main weapon class, well, I won't talk about that. Weapon Skills Since Polearm is really the only viable option for Dragoon for most of the game, I won't bother listing the other weapon skills. The thing about Polearm skills is that most are multi-hit, so damage will vary greatly, though you will not miss every hit in a weapon skill very often. If you want to get the most out of these weapon skills, go for accuracy. *Double Thrust ***Delivers a two-hit attack. Damage varies with TP. ***Skill level: 5 ***Job level: 1 **This Weapon Skill is the best for quite a while; until you get Penta Thrust. *Thunder Thrust ***Deals lightning elemental damage to enemy. Damage varies with TP. ***Skill level: 30 ***Job level: 9 **This Weapon Skill just plain sucks. It's really only viable for opening a skillchain or against mobs weak to water. Replace with Raiden Thrust once available. *Raiden Thrust ***Deals lightning elemental damage to enemy. Damage varies with TP. ***Skill level: 70 ***Job level: 23 **Hey, the Weapon Skill named after my wyvern! This is basically Thunder Thrust +1. *Leg Sweep ***Stuns enemy. Duration of effect varies with TP. ***Skill level: 100 ***Job level: 33 **Not a good damage dealer at all, but don't pass this skill by. It's very useful if you can time it right, because this sucker stuns. For example, a Goblin is casting Bomb Toss. If you land this skill during casting, you will have saved your party from a bomb. *Penta Thrust ***Delivers a five-hit attack. Accuracy varies with TP. ***Skill level: 150 ***Job level: 49 **Finally, a good Weapon Skill! Actually, a superb Weapon Skill! This should be your main one for most of the game. Accuracy is key here. *Vorpal Thrust ***Delivers a single-hit attack. Chance of critical varies with TP. ***Skill level: 175 ***Job level: 55 **It's an okay Weapon Skill, nothing special really. *Skewer ***Delivers a three-hit attack. Chance of critical hit varies with TP. ***Skill level: 200 ***Job level: 60 **It's okay, really just a Vorpal Thrust +1. *Wheeling Thrust ***Ignores enemy's defense. Amount ignored varies with TP. ***Skill level: 225 ***Job level: 65 **This is a good one. A really good one. Use this to create Light skillchains in your party, but aside from that, use Penta Thrust. *Impulse Drive ***Delivers a two-hit attack. Damage varies with TP. ***Methods Create Madness must be completed to use this Weapon Skill. ***Skill level: 240 ***Job level: 68 ****Note: You need level 71 to complete the above quest, so you can only use this at 68 if you have completed the quest on another job. **This is an okay Weapon Skill, sadly not too great, except at 300% TP. Then, it's great, but you would be better off using three Penta Thrusts or Wheeling Thrusts. *Geirskogul ***Additional effect: Shock Spikes. ***This weapon skill is only available with the stage 5 Relic Polearm Gungnir or within Dynamis with the stage 4 Gae Assail. **If you can get this Weapon Skill... I salute you. This is extremely hard to get because you need your stage 4 or 5 Relic weapon to use it. Job Abilites *Spirit Surge Level 1 ***Adds your wyvern's strength to your own. ****You absorb your wyvern's HP and TP, as well as gaining a max HP boost (15%), 25% haste, as well as resetting recasts and adding effects to Jumps. ***Duration: 1:00 ***Recast Time: 2:00:00 **The two-hour. Wow, is this an improvement from the old two-hour, in fact this may be the best two-hour in the game! If you time it right, you can self-skillchain and really save yourself and others. The bad part is that your wyvern is unsummoned. Just call your little buddy again after the effect wears off. *Call Wyvern Level 1 ***Summons a Wyvern to fight by your side. ***Recast Time: 20:00 **If you're wyvernless, you're powerless. Well not powerless, just pretty weak, which explains the whole lolDRG thing. What you say? You can keep you wyvern up? Yeah, me too, along with almost every other Dragoon, the thing is that this ability used to be the Dragoon's two-hour. And believe me, I played way back then, and Dragoons really didn't have their wyverns up much. Anyway, if you don't have your wyvern up, you're a loser. *Ancient Circle Level 5 ***Increases party members' resistance against Dragons. ****Gives party members within range the effect of Dragon Killer. ***Duration: 1:00 ***Recast Time: 10:00 **Hurray! A completely useless job ability. The only way I could see this coming into any use would be when you are fighting dragons, obviously, but that's not often at all, now is it? At least it looks cool. *Jump Level 10 ***Performs a jumping attack on the enemy. ****Has a slightly larger range than a normal melee attack, and hits harder. ***While Spirit Surge is in effect, Jump temporarily weakens an enemy’s defense by 20%. ***Recast Time: 1:30 **You would not be a Dragoon without this. This is a staple ability for the Dragoon. It's basically an enhanced attack every one and a half minutes. Use this as often as possible. *Spirit Link Level 25 ***Sacrifices own HP to heal Wyvern's HP. ****Transfers one third of your current HP for your wyvern and heals Poison, Sleep, and Paralyze. ***Recast Time: 3:00 **This is really only useful when your wyvern somehow gets hate, mostly for soloing. Don't use this during a fight if you can use Call Wyvern again, because you might end up dying. And if you die, so does your little buddy. *High Jump Level 35 ***Performs a high jumping attack on enemy. ****A melee attack with enhanced range that sheds one third of your enmity. ***While Spirit Surge is in effect, an enemy’s TP is reduced by a percentage proportionate to the amount of damage inflicted. ***Recast Time: 3:00 **Really a great ability, especially after a solid Weapon Skill. This can really help your tank and your healer as well. *Super Jump Level 50 ***Performs a super jump. ****Deals no damage. After activating, you will remain in the air, immune, for a short while. Sheds 99.99% of your enmity. ***While Spirit Surge is in effect, as seen from the enemy target’s position, the closest party member behind the dragoon has his or her enmity reduced by half. ***Recast Time: 3:00 **Another great ability to use after a Weapon Skill or another big enmity producer. Job Traits *Attack Bonus Level 10 ***Improves power of physical attacks. ****Gives you an additional 10 attack. **Hurray, some extra attack! Only 10 though... I won't complain, at least they give you something. *Dragon Killer Level 25 ***Gives an edge against dragon enemies. ****Occasionally causes Dragons to become intimidated, but only if the Dragon is attacking you. **I thought Dragoons were supposed to save Dragons? Oh well. Really useless unless you are fighting Dragons, which is never. *Accuracy Bonus Level 30 ***Increases the accuracy of physical attacks. ****Gives you an additional 10 accuracy. **Just what a 2-hander user needs! Accuracy! It's a good bonus for the time being, too. *Accuracy Bonus II Level 50 ***Increases the accuracy of physical attacks. ****Gives you an additional 22 accuracy. Overwrites Accuracy Bonus I. **Woohoo! Even more accuracy! I'm really glad Dragoons have these traits now, because 22 accuracy is pretty good. = Walkthrough = Level 1-10 Ah, the starting levels... These will get boring, but please endure, for once you hit 10, things will really heat up. Just grind right outside a city. Being a Bastokan, I prefer South Gustaberg. I strongly, STRONGLY recommend subbing Blue Mage for these levels, it makes the ride a heck of a lot easier on you. Need reasons? *You get a defensive wyvern. *Just having Blue Magic spells set gives you a stat and/or attribute bonus, you'll actually end up with more HP than subbing Warrior. *Pollen is essentially a Cure, they both cost 8MP and are the same potency. *Sandspin and Foot Kick can be useful for burning MP that you don't need for Pollen, all while dealing damage or enfeebling. *My main is Blue Mage. *The spell animations look cool. The gear setup I used during these levels was: *Main: Harpoon -> Obelisk -> Bronze Spear *Head: Copper Hairpin *Body: Cobra Tunica *Hands: Hume M Gloves -> Leather Gloves *Legs: Hume Slacks -> Leather Trousers *Feet: Hume M Boots -> Leather Highboots *Ring1: Bastokan Ring *Ring2: Empress Band You could improve this by using Bounding Boots instead of Leather Highboots, and maybe an Emperor Band instead of Empress Band, but aside from that, I think this is a pretty good setup, starting you off with a cool +13MP. The best part is, all of this gear is reasonably obtained or cheap to buy. Note: Don't bother with Bastokan Ring if you don't already have it, and use your RSE equivalent of the Hume series. Your main strategy here is simple. Don't use any MP until you get to 25% HP or lower, and then use Foot Kick. Why, you ask? Because this will trigger your wyvern's Healing Breath. Repeat this until you are all spent on MP. You can build some chains with this actually, my highest was chain 4. Always set every spell you have available, you need the boosts! Level 10-20 Well, you've reached level 10! Congratulations! you have Jump too now! An extra attack every one and a half minutes is okay. The good part is, you get to go to Valkurm Dunes! ...What? Am I weird for liking the dunes? ...Don't answer that. Well, you finally get to party,if you can find one! I would really just make my own parties at this point. You will be asked to tank, you really shouldn't, but if you have a PL, you should be fine. You should change your subjob depending on the party's needs: *If they need more damage, use Monk for Boost. *If they need more heals, use White Mage or Blue Mage for a defensive wyvern. *If they need another emergency tank, use Warrior for Provoke.